Laurent Potvin-Trottier, Concordia University

Research

Biophysics Cellular signaling Dynamical systems Dynamic encoding Microfluidics Oscillations Quantitative biology Stochastic noise in biology

Latest papers

A Bacteroides synthetic biology toolkit to build an in vivo malabsorption biosensor.
Cell · 2026
Exploiting fluctuations in gene expression to detect causal interactions between genes.
eLife · 2025
Open-space microfluidics as a tool to study signaling dynamics.
Lab on a chip · 2025

All 11 publications

Latest funding

High throughput liquid handling platform using open-space microfluidics
NSERC · 2023 · Co-investigator
$150,000
Engineering of next-generation synthetic biology tools for biological applications
NSERC · 2019 · Principal investigator
$185,000
Engineering of next-generation synthetic biology tools for biological applications
NSERC · 2019 · Principal investigator
$12,500

All 4 grants and awards

11 publications.

01

A Bacteroides synthetic biology toolkit to build an in vivo malabsorption biosensor.

McCallum G, Burckhardt JC, He J, Hong A, Potvin-Trottier L, Tropini C

Cell2026

DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.12.052 PMID: 41610848

02

Exploiting fluctuations in gene expression to detect causal interactions between genes.

Joly-Smith E, Talpur MM, Allard P, Papazotos F, Potvin-Trottier L, Hilfinger A

eLife2025

DOI: 10.7554/elife.92497 PMID: 41401079

03

Open-space microfluidics as a tool to study signaling dynamics.

Proulx M, Clapperton-Richard P, Potvin-Trottier L, Piekny A, Gervais T

Lab on a chip2025

DOI: 10.1039/d5lc00521c PMID: 40995884

04

Measuring prion propagation in single bacteria elucidates a mechanism of loss.

Jager K, Orozco-Hidalgo MT, Springstein BL, Joly-Smith E, Papazotos F, McDonough E, Fleming E, McCallum G, Yuan AH, Hilfinger A, Hochschild A, Potvin-Trottier L

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2023Senior author

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2221539120 PMID: 37738299

05

Measuring prion propagation in single bacteria elucidates mechanism of loss.

Jager K, Orozco-Hidalgo MT, Springstein BL, Joly-Smith E, Papazotos F, McDonough E, Fleming E, McCallum G, Hilfinger A, Hochschild A, Potvin-Trottier L

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2023Senior author

DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.11.523042 PMID: 36712035

06

Microfluidics for long-term single-cell time-lapse microscopy: Advances and applications.

Allard P, Papazotos F, Potvin-Trottier L

Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology2022Senior author

DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2022.968342 PMID: 36312536

07

Author Correction: Bacterial variability in the mammalian gut captured by a single-cell synthetic oscillator.

Riglar DT, Richmond DL, Potvin-Trottier L, Verdegaal AA, Naydich AD, Bakshi S, Leoncini E, Lyon LG, Paulsson J, Silver PA

Nature communications2021

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-22149-5 PMID: 33727556

08

Using Models to (Re-)Design Synthetic Circuits.

McCallum G, Potvin-Trottier L

Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.)2021Senior author

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1032-9_3 PMID: 33405217

09

Isolating live cells after high-throughput, long-term, time-lapse microscopy.

Luro S, Potvin-Trottier L, Okumus B, Paulsson J

Nature methods2020

DOI: 10.1038/s41592-019-0620-7 PMID: 31768062

10

Bacterial variability in the mammalian gut captured by a single-cell synthetic oscillator.

Riglar DT, Richmond DL, Potvin-Trottier L, Verdegaal AA, Naydich AD, Bakshi S, Leoncini E, Lyon LG, Paulsson J, Silver PA

Nature communications2019

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-019-12638-z PMID: 31604953

High throughput liquid handling platform using open-space microfluidics

Co-investigatorNSERC2023Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: Gervais, Thomas

$150,000

Engineering of next-generation synthetic biology tools for biological applications

Principal investigatorNSERC2019Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Potvin-Trottier, Laurent

Keywords: Biophysics; Cellular signaling; Dynamical systems; Dynamic encoding; Microfluidics; Oscillations; Quantitative biology; Stochastic noise in biology; Synthetic biology; Synthetic gene circuits

$185,000

Engineering of next-generation synthetic biology tools for biological applications

Principal investigatorNSERC2019Discovery Launch Supplement

Principal investigators: PotvinTrottier, Laurent

$12,500

Training Program in Synthetic Biology Applications (SynBioApps)

Co-investigatorNSERC2018Collaborative Research and Training Experience

Principal investigators: Whiteway, Malcolm MS

Keywords: biological engineering; cellular modeling; genetic engineering; industrial biotechnology; metabolic engineering; microbiology; molecular biology; sustainability; synthetic biology

$1,650,000

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Biology
Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Co-authors at Concordia University, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Carolina Tropini

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

1 shared papers, latest 2026

Alisa Piekny

Biology

1 shared papers, latest 2025

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their NSERC grant from 2019

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Biophysics Dear Professor Potvin-Trottier, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "A Bacteroides synthetic biology toolkit to build an in vivo malabsorption biosensor." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your NSERC-funded project "Engineering of next-generation synthetic biology tools for biological applications" (2019), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]